Pets fulfill an important and emotional need in many households. Losing a pet can profoundly affect a family. Many lost pets end up at animal shelters and are eventually euthanized because the owner cannot be found. This has tragic consequences, not only for the pet being euthanized, but also for the pet's family, who suffers the loss of the pet.
In recent years it has become more popular to microchip a pet so that should the pet become lost, when found, it can be identified and returned to the owner. Such implantable microchips inserted through a trochar needle are commonly in use to identify livestock and pets such as cats and dogs. A problem has been that the chips do not always remain where they have been implanted, which can render the chip unreadable, negating any benefit and defeating the intent of making the animal identifiable. Accordingly, there exists a need for an implantable chip which may be safely anchored into the site of implantation.